Flower Flirt

Flower Flirt Everything online is AI now. You can’t find love in that environment. You need old school. Very old school. A 3D-printed bouquet of flowers arrives at my door, each petal perfectly recreated in polymer. I open my FlowerFlirt app and scan it. -Pink Rose: 10”, 4 leaves, 8 thorns -Peony: 9.5”, no leaves…

Bull, No Bull

Bull, No Bull Two elderly women sit in front of the window. “Look, a bull. It’s really there.” “I see. Careful, it’s coming this way.” “It’s going to hit the house! Shoo!” “Don’t wave a handkerchief! It’ll charge.” “It’s going to break the window!” “It can’t, remember?” “Ahh!” Both women scream as the bull charges….

This Familiar, Alien Air

This Familiar, Alien Air The air here smells familiar now, which means I’m forgetting my home planet. It’s been decades since I crash-landed on this world. The inhabitants were initially wary but respectful. Their language is subtle, but I get by. I live in this ruined castle I found, adding bits of technology I salvaged…

Authentic

Authentic “So, no cruise then?” “Ugh, they’re just so artificial. Now, this medieval experience. That’s authentic.” “Like, how authentic?” “Oh, the whole deal. Straw mattresses, pigs and chickens staying in the same room, even real fleas and lice!” “Real? Not robots?” “Nope. They breed them specially. Plus, there are daily excursions out to the fields…

The Phoenix

The Phoenix Through the salt-grimed asylum windows, I watch the Phoenix enter the harbor to cheering crowds, back from miraculous wartime exploits. I launched that ship. The crowd cheered me then, right up until they stole my crown and transformed it into a ballot box. And imprisoned me here. The door opens. “Supper time, your…

Tell Me a Story

Tell Me a Story “Hmm. Okay, let’s see. The window. It just looks like a window, but every Halloween at midnight, it becomes a portal to the terrible world of Ba-Kyard. In the castle of Shed lives evil King Mower. Every week, King Mower comes out and runs around the kingdom, roaring and cutting off…